The Fruit Stand Goodness

One of the best things about being in the Philippines is that fruit is always in season. Each different fruit seems to have it's different peak seasons but as a whole there never seems to be any lacking. Of course there are many fruits that I miss; raspberries, blueberries, blackberries. But we have been able to find so many new fruits to help fill the void...
We thought we might take you on a journey through our regular fruit stand and show you a FEW of the different tastes the Philippines has to offer:

1. Rambutan - As you can see it looks like it has some type of fur around the thick shell. The best way I can think to describe the taste is the Philippine grape. It has a pit or seed in the center and it's also very close in texture.

2. Mangosteen - This is one of our favorites. It's a little bit of sweet and sour mixed together. It's quite a thick shell that you break open to find what looks like white orange pieces. We had heard that since we've been here a mangosteen suppliment claiming to be the cure all that ails you has made an appearance. It claims the remedy is found in the shell which by the way is awfully bitter and spit worthy...

3. Mango - Mango's have a green, green-yellow, yellow-red or yellow-red-green colour. The most common mango's here are green which slowly turn yellow as they ripen. All I can say is the mango's that we've had in Canada are NOTHING compared to the ones we have had here. Brayden would refer to them as "candy" for the longest time. So yummy!

4. Durian - The whole skin consists of big, sharp and hard spines! Sydney actaully went to grab one of these from our counter once and she was really ticked off, crying and upset, they really hurt!! To open you insert a knife between the spines and rip it open. It's supposed to be so tasty but we personally can't get past the stink!! It's not allowed in most hotels and other public places because the fruit stinks like stale, dehydrated urine, Mmmmm!!

5. Atis - These are sugar apples which are also found in Central and South America. I guess the Spanish people brought them with them when they settled here in the Philippines. It's filled with hundreds of seeds that are covered in a very sugary, soft pulp or meat that is extreamly sweet. If you can get past having to work so hard around the seeds the fruit is very delicious.

6. Lanzones - This comes in clusters like grapes, with its fruit two to four times bigger. The skin is green when young and turns yellow when ripe; black speckles on the skin is normal. Its clear gel-like meat has a firmer consistency than the caimito, very juicy and sweet. To eat lanzones, pinch the fruit near the stem end to break the skin and the fruit in half, which you can then peel by hand which reveals the separate slices of sweet meat which contain bitter seeds that are thrown away.

7. Bananas - I know that everyone knows what a banana is, or I hope that you do but I had to add this because before moving to the Philippines I had no idea how many different types of banana's there were. Apparently there are 5 different types, some green, yellow and brown. Some small as my finger and some big as my forearm. Here in the Philppines they will use the bananas to make catchup and use the leaves for everything, especially with cooking. The more popular banana here is short, fat and extreamly sweet which is great for for Banana bread!

8. Jackfruit/Langka - This fruit is so grand!! I had to save this one for the last because I find it so amazing! They sell this a lot downtown in central market but the whole fruit grows to be so huge that they chop it up and sell it in chunks. It's pretty tasty and you can put a dab of oil on your fingers to start so the sticky fruit doesn't cling to your fingers as you peel the meat of the fruit away from the seed. It took me some time to find a picture that would help me explain the stress i'm putting on the size of this fruit but if you were laying under a Langka tree and it fell on you, no doubt it would kill you!! They are the largest tree borne fruit and can get up to 80lbs!!
Of course there are so many more that I would love to show of and hopefully will soon! As we become more and more adventurous our taste buds also seem to explore a whole new world, and unfortunately taste is something I can not explain or describe so you'll just have to come here and visit us to see for yourself!!